[Roe]

I just posted this in the rbr and thought the topic probably deserves a thread of it's own.

Khan looked exactly the same to me. I didn't really notice any improvements at all to be honest. He made all the same mistakes where he just flurries with shots and leaves himself wide open. Just this time he was up against a smaller and not very good (but tough) guy. If he was against a Maidana, Peterson or Garcia (hell maybe even Prescott still) I think Khan would've lost last night.

But it was his first fight back since a big KO loss and he's only had one training camp with Virgil Hunter. So perhaps there's still time to iron out the flaws but I'm not convinced.

Unfortunately I think he'll lose badly again within the next 2 or 3 fights (unless he's kept away from the top competition which I doubt).

Do you think Amir Khan made any noticeable improvements in his win over "Carlos Molina" last night?

 

[Kratos]

Am I the only one who thinks he has a tendency to jump in with punches from too far out? Which gives his opponent a ocean of time to see him come in?

 

[sean87ph]

Someone said that they don't think he has the reflexes to adjust his style to Hunter's way of boxing, I haven't watched it yet so cant really comment. going to watch this afternoon.

 

[Chatty]

I havent watched it yet but its going to be hard to tell as Molina doesn't look like a world class fighter. In fact he drew with someone with a 4-5-3 (or there abouts) record last year.

People love to jump on things but I doubt he's going to turn into superman after one camp anyway. I said this when he first joined Hunter and I'm sticking to it. He'll have 2-3 good fights, maybes another B-level guy and then maybes get revenge against Peterson/Garcia (if he sticks to a gameplan) and then he'll get cocky again, get dragged into a war and get brutally Ko'd.

Matthysee will destroy him.
Garcia has a good chance to stop him again.
Rios would be a nightmare for him.
Alvarado would give him a long night.

Very tough division for him. Even the guys just under them like Ajose, Allakhverdiev, Guzman, Holt etc could be very tough fights.

Nevertheless, at least he has plenty of exciting fights to choose from. if I were him I'd try and get the two rematches and then move up to 147 where there are less punchers.

 

[Vano-irons]

He was tagged repeatedly last night. Right hands, left hooks, and body shots, all found their mark over and over. I actually thought Molina closed the gap rather well in the middle rounds, but it shouldn't have been allowed to get that far. Khan had him hurt in the first and he should have pounced in the second and third. But he didn't. He tried to show everyone he had improved by using his jab, when in reality it was just giving Molina a way into the fight. The only thing he did differently was that he stopped putting his hands in the air when he was tagged, but he still tried to fight his way out of trouble like he did with Roach.

This is gonna sound really harsh because the guy won every round comfortably, but if a guy like Molina can have success in getting close ad seemingly tagging khan hard (I'm sure he felt a few), then the real pressure fighter guys will wipe the floor with him. He didn't show any improvements to me

 

[Vano-irons]

That said, I never expected him to change after one camp

 

[Indigo Pab]

Not to any great degree as far as I could tell, even if he did it'd be difficult to gauge as Molina - being tough and really making an effort aside - isn't exactly the highest quality of opponent anyways.

I think he was smarter than usual in close quarters, in previous fights if someone got inside Khan he'd tend to just square up, keep his hands high, and let his man get a few punches off before moving away. A good few times last night when Molina managed to close the gap Khan was maintaining his stance and utilised it to really smother Molina's work. He even tied him up on occasion, blimey!

Aside from seeming to have grown a tad more nous on the inside though I didn't really notice any staggering refinements or anything. Was still guilty of making a lot of the same errors, I co-sign what @Kratos said, as well as him doing what got him stopped against Garcia; letting a combination go and lingering in range without getting his hands up or maneuvering out of the danger zone before Molina could return fire.

To be fair though it's only one fight, and what with Khan having a lot of technical frailties and being a bit of a mess discipline-wise I don't think it was realistic to expect any radical change. He could've bombed Molina out and I'm sure most of us would be skeptical that it was evidence of a massive refinement. We'll see how it goes with more time I guess.

 

[adamcanavan]

Watching it there were a few little improvements in the way he fought and he mixed them in with his style of fighting so they were hard to notice, but I think we won't know how much khan has improved until we see him in a real test and in a bit of danger

 

[GazOC]

I thought McMcCrory got it right. It was a disiplined fight from Khan but didn't really answer whether he's learned anything when he's under fire or having to fight an opponent with more to offer than Molina.

 

[Meast]

He showed some nice inside work and he was much more patient but it's too early to tell just yet.

Best wait until he's in with someone who can trouble him

 

[dftaylor]

You can never judge a fighter when he's facing someone who lets him do what he wants. When Hatton fought Malignaggi, people were barking about how he had gotten back to his boxing and would now be a real handful for Pacquiao. But it's easy to maintain discipline when the opponent hasn't the style or the firepower to get you off the track.

Soon as Hatton fought Pac, he reverted to type. Khan, a much less intelligent and rounded fighter than Hatton, will be the same.

 

[w;dkm ckeqfjq c]

Anyone else think Khan got wobbled by a Molina jab in round 2?